Chapter 16: Cotton Factory Welfare
Director Li proudly pinned the motivational speech to the factory’s main bulletin board. As soon as their shifts ended, workers flocked to the board to read the words, finding themselves genuinely moved and inspired.
Returning to the Propaganda Department with a beaming smile, Director Li looked at Sheng Wanyan with undisguised admiration. Her brilliant draft had left a stellar impression on upper management, which in turn meant Director Li had received high praise from his own superiors.
“You can all go collect your fruit and sugar rations in a bit,” Director Li announced. “This time, we really have Comrade Sheng Wanyan to thank. Originally, everyone in our department was only allocated two apples. However, management was so satisfied with the work we did today that they specially rewarded the Propaganda Department with three extra apples per person!”
Director Li was practically glowing; this was a massive validation of their department’s worth.
The office erupted into enthusiastic applause. In an era where fruit was an expensive rarity, who wouldn’t be thrilled to receive three extra apples?
“Alright, let’s keep up the good work and continue creating value for our motherland and our department,” Director Li added. He was full of grand speeches today. Leaders of this era always kept phrases like “contribute to the country” on the tips of their tongues. If a leader failed to recite these slogans and someone reported them for it, their career would be over in a flash.
After work, Sheng Wanyan carried her share of the apples and sugar and caught the tram home. As she swayed in the crowded carriage, she realized just how incredibly inconvenient the daily commute was. It was time for the family to buy a couple of bicycles. If they bought two, she and Mother Sheng could each have one, making their trips to and from the factories much easier.
When she walked through the door with the welfare goods, her family was delighted, asking all about her day. Upon hearing how well the cotton mill treated its employees, they urged her to keep working hard.
“Dad, Mom, what do you think about buying two bicycles?” Sheng Wanyan asked over dinner.
Father Sheng immediately thought it was a brilliant idea. Their apartment was located in the steel plant’s residential compound, which was just a short walk to his own job. But his wife and daughter had to rely on the crowded, unreliable tram every day. On days he got off work early, he would walk to meet his wife, but now that his daughter was also working, having two bicycles made perfect sense. They certainly weren’t short on money.
Plus, a bicycle was a highly valuable asset. When Wanyan eventually married, she could take hers as part of her dowry. The other could stay at the house, or be used for their son’s future wedding. Since Sheng Wanze was stationed at a military base and couldn’t use a bicycle there, they could just compensate him with cash so he wouldn’t feel shortchanged.
“I agree,” Father Sheng said, “but we’ll have to figure out a way to get our hands on bicycle coupons.”
Mother Sheng had no objections to spending the money either. While she was incredibly thrifty with daily household expenses, she knew what was truly important. A well-maintained bicycle could easily last eight to ten years; it was a solid investment.
“Ask around with your coworkers tomorrow,” Father Sheng suggested. “We can also mail a letter to Xiaoze to see if he can trade for some coupons with his comrades in the army.”
With Father Sheng making the final call, the matter was settled.
Bright and early the next morning, Mother Sheng headed to the post office to mail the letter. However, what none of them knew was that the moment Sheng Wanze had received their previous letter—the one mentioning a blind date for his sister—he had immediately requested leave. Right now, he was already on a train heading home.
Having learned her lesson about office boredom, Sheng Wanyan arrived at work the next day prepared. She had secretly pulled a skein of gray wool from her space and tucked it into her canvas bag.
If she had nothing to do, she could knit. Otherwise, sitting around daydreaming all day would drive her crazy. Besides, there were six people in her family. Knitting two sets of winter clothes for everyone was a massive undertaking. If she started now, everyone would have warm new sweaters to wear by the Lunar New Year.
“Sigh…” Wu Jiaxiu let out a long, heavy breath, pulling Sheng Wanyan from her knitting.
“Sister Jiaxiu, what’s wrong?” Sheng Wanyan asked.
Wu Jiaxiu shook her head, launching into a complaint about her morning trip to the market. “It’s getting so incredibly hard to buy meat these days. I went to line up at the crack of dawn, but all I managed to get were two bare bones. Food is just too scarce right now.”
Hearing this, Niu Fangli quickly chimed in. “Tell me about it! I went grocery shopping today and couldn’t even manage to buy a single egg.”
Sheng Wanyan glanced at her two coworkers. Was this a good opportunity to quietly sell some of her stock?
She hesitated. She had just arrived at the factory, and she didn’t want to be careless. It would be wiser to wait, establish a deeper trust with everyone, and then slowly introduce her “business.”
Sheng Wanyan was naturally cautious. Although she possessed the original owner’s memories, she was still adapting to this era, knowing that one careless move could spell disaster. By now, she was certain that the original soul was truly gone. At first, her body had retained some of the original girl’s habits, but those had gradually faded away entirely.
She was absolutely certain that the Sheng family in this world were her own true family, reunited across time and space just as her grandfather had promised. Perhaps, she and the original owner were actually the same soul all along. Whatever the metaphysical truth was, she couldn’t find a definitive answer, and she no longer wanted to dwell on it. She was here now, and she was going to live a good life. Her family’s health and happiness were all that mattered.
After clocking out, Sheng Wanyan slipped into a deserted alley near her neighborhood and pulled a one-pound cut of fresh pork from her space. There had been very little oil and meat at home recently, and the bacon they had preserved for the New Year was almost completely gone.
At this hour, every household in the steel plant’s tube buildings was busy cooking dinner, and the communal hallways were relatively clear. This made it convenient for Sheng Wanyan to sneak the meat inside. If the neighbors saw her carrying fresh pork, the jealousy and gossip would be endless. In this era, eating meat was something you had to do behind closed doors.
When she walked into the apartment, Grandpa and Grandma Sheng were just finishing up the meal preparations. Seeing the fresh pork in her hands, they instantly knew what was going on.
“Did you go to the black market again?” Grandpa Sheng’s face darkened. He was vehemently opposed to her visiting such a dangerous place. If they needed something from the black market, Father Sheng should be the one to go. If a young girl kept wandering into that shadowy environment, one bad encounter could ruin her life.
“No, Grandpa, I didn’t!” Sheng Wanyan quickly lied. “When I got off work, there just happened to be an old country woman standing near the factory gates with a covered basket. I went over and asked her quietly, and bought it right there.”
Hearing this, Grandpa Sheng’s frown relaxed slightly. It was a common occurrence these days for brave rural folks to wait outside factory gates with baskets of produce or meat. The factory workers and security guards all knew what was happening, but everyone turned a blind eye. After all, who didn’t want to eat meat? When good food was delivered right to the doorstep, no one was foolish enough to report it. With the severe food shortages, reporting a vendor meant cutting off their own supply lines.
Sheng Wanyan smoothed over the lie, claiming it was her coworker, Wu Jiaxiu, who had tipped her off about the vendor. It was a perfect cover story. These vendors always claimed to be “visiting relatives” at the factory, though exactly which relative they were visiting was a mystery no one bothered to solve.
“How much did you spend on the meat?” Grandma Sheng asked. “I’ll have your mother reimburse you after dinner.”
“There’s no need, Grandma,” Sheng Wanyan insisted. “Mom and Dad gave me a ten-yuan allowance for starting work. I have plenty of my own money to spend.”
Grandma Sheng looked displeased at that. She knew the meat must have been bought at premium black-market prices. Her granddaughter had to pay for her daily tram fare and occasionally buy a decent meal at the factory cafeteria. Furthermore, the meat was for the entire family to enjoy. While it was wonderful that Wanyan was filial, the girl had just started working and hadn’t even drawn her first paycheck yet. How could they let her pay for the family’s meat?
“Listen to your grandmother,” Grandpa Sheng said firmly, settling the matter.
In this household, no one dared to refute Grandpa Sheng when he used that tone, so Sheng Wanyan had no choice but to nod in defeat.
True to their word, after dinner was cleared away, Mother Sheng pulled out five yuan and handed it to Sheng Wanyan. Naturally, Sheng Wanyan immediately tried to refuse it.
